A Kings

  • 2,000 Miles, One Dog, and Zero Regrets (Except for All of It)

    by a guy who should’ve known better, but somehow keeps saying yes anyway Just before Thanksgiving, my girlfriend visited me in Richmond, VA and convinced me to spend the holiday with her in Houston — or as I prefer to call it, hell with excellent barbecue. One minute I was enjoying the crisp Virginia air,…

    AKings

  • Richmond is Melting and So Am I

    By a man who thought Virginia summers were supposed to be charming and full of fireflies, not the actual fires of hell. It is currently 102°F in Richmond, Virginia. That’s not a heatwave—that’s the sun filing a restraining order against us for getting too close. The weather app isn’t even pretending anymore. It just says…

    AKings

  • What the Rain Brings

    It’s raining. The kind of rain that doesn’t just show up, it settles in like it’s unpacking for a long stay. Looking at those clouds right now, I’d say they’ve paid the rent and brought a suitcase full of gloom. My little dog—wise soul that he is—is curled up in the corner, taking one look…

    AKings

  • A Jubilee, a Corr, and a Cold Goodbye

    February 2017, London. Cold, damp, and everything was wrapped in that stubborn, bone-chilling English gray. It was the sort of chill that could freeze tea right in the kettle. So naturally, I thought, “What better time for a nostalgia walk?” There I was, hoofing it down the Mall, past Buckingham Palace, when I realized the…

    AKings

  • On My Way to Houston

    By A Guy Who Just Wanted a Quiet Flight and Maybe a Hug It’s been a month since I saw my girlfriend. We live apart—she’s in Houston, that vast, sprawling circus of freeways, mad drivers, and more concrete bridges than sense. I live in Richmond, Virginia, which, if you read my last bit of rambling,…

    AKings

  • The Wild, the Weird, and the Wonderfully West Virginian

    January 2013. I rolled into Lewisburg, West Virginia, at precisely 8 PM after a long but admittedly beautiful drive from Pennsylvania. It was the kind of drive that makes you feel like you’re in an advert for winter tires—curving roads, mountains, light snow, and just enough loneliness to feel dramatic but not suicidal. First impressions?…

    AKings

  • Flying: The Sky’s the Limit, Sanity Optional

    Flying used to be glamorous. I’m talking about the golden age—suits, silk ties, champagne served by flight attendants with teeth so perfect they could light up a runway. It was the Concorde, it was Pan Am, it was James Bond having a Vodka Martini “shaken, not stirred”. Now? It’s not travel. It’s airborne livestock logistics.…

    AKings

  • Spring’s First Breath

    And what a morning! One of those rare ones that feels like it’s been waiting all winter just to unfold right in front of you. If I had the voice for it, I’d throw my head back and sing—something grand, something worthy of the world stretching its arms after a long, cold sleep. Hard to…

    AKings

  • Frozen Stillness

    Winter has come back to Henrico, and this time, she’s brought her full artillery. Everything is wrapped in ice—the trees, the sidewalks, the cars sitting like forgotten relics in driveways. The grass is gone, buried under a thick crust of frozen rain, and even the squirrels, usually nature’s little daredevils, have called it a day.…

    AKings

  • Winter in Richmond, VA

    Well, here we are in Richmond, where winter’s cruel sense of humor is on full display. For weeks, we’ve waited, begged, and stared at the heavens like expectant children hoping Santa would drop a dusting of white magic upon our otherwise dreary January. And finally, yesterday, it happened—the glorious arrival of snow. Not just any…

    AKings